A Blue Tinge in the West

[siliconefreak]

Editorial, LA Times
April 25, 2006

Just as Americans have come to accept the idea of a gulf between red and blue states, a grass-roots (or tumbleweed) shift has begun to blur the colors in the Rockies and the Southwest.

The trend is evolutionary, not revolutionary. The GOP remains entrenched in Idaho and Utah. Most state legislatures are Republican and the presidential vote was solid crimson. But statehouse shifts of the last several years are signals of a changing Western political identity and independence. The social conservatism that keeps the South red may not be enough for the West. Old-fashioned individual liberty and Democratic populism are getting a hearing. The national Democratic Party seems interested, but unsure how to get to the new rodeo.

Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona have elected Democratic governors, as have the swing states of Oregon and Washington. Democrats picked up a House seat and a Senate seat in Colorado and won both houses of the Legislature. Democrats took the Montana Legislature to go along with their new chief executive.

Even in the presidential contest, Democrat John Kerry had strong showings in New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. If they had gone to Kerry instead of George W. Bush, Kerry would have won, as noted in a Times report this month by Mark Z. Barabak.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-west25apr25,0,220734.story

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Correct: Kerry won. We just didn't get the votes counted.

But, thanks for the great post!

[darkism]

2. Since when are Oregon and Washington swing states?

I always thought of them as solid blue.

[Lexingtonian]

4. they were, until this year

Gore had to spend a lot of time and money on them because of the Nader thing. Some say it cost him Florida.

The Bush people conceded the two in late September or early October this time around. The reporter/editorialists are a little slow to catch on. Well, Republicans can still compete in statewide contests in them, so they aren't fully matured yet (i.e. still have too many unreliable conservative-to-moderate Democrats).

[siliconefreak]

3. correction

Obviously, the date should have been April 25, 2005, not 2006. :blush: